


The Wish

by Gnomecat



Category: Homeland
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 05:37:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10915419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gnomecat/pseuds/Gnomecat
Summary: It's her birthday and Carrie makes a wish





	The Wish

**Author's Note:**

> There were some fic prompts posted on LJ and the lovely Busybee17 suggested: 'Brody and Quinn both come back from the dead, and Carrie has to choose between them.'
> 
> This is a very silly story that popped into my mind...

“Mummy, did you make a wish?”

Carrie fanned away the smoke from the birthday candles which covered the entire surface of the cake. “No, sweetie I didn’t. Wishes don’t…” She caught a look from Maggie. “Um, I don’t need to make a wish. You all got me so many gifts, there is nothing left I want.”

“Mummy that’s boring. Make a wish!”

“Make a wish! Make a wish!” Ruby and Josie joined in. 

“Yeah Carrie, make a wish! It’s one of your birthday rights.” Maggie lit a match and began relighting all the candles.

“No… it’s silly.” Carrie protested. 

Franny crossed her arms and pouted. Carrie sighed. “Okay, okay.” 

She stared at the dancing flames. What did she want? Well, she knew what she wanted. But that was impossible. Not going to happen. She shouldn’t even think about it. She stared at Franny instead. Smiled at her red curls. She should be happy with what she had. But when she blew out the candles there was only one thought in her head: ‘I wish he was here.’

***

A strange tapping noise woke her up. She looked at the clock. 4.12am. There it was again. It sounded like small stones being thrown at her window. She got out of bed and peeked cautiously out the window. There was someone out there. Standing in the middle of the lawn, hand poised to throw another stone. The light was dim but she could tell it was a man and there was something about the way he was standing that looked familiar. She squinted and moved her head to get a better view. The silhouette dropped the stone and waved enthusiastically. What the hell?

She pulled on her jeans and a sweatshirt and went downstairs, checking on Franny on the way to make sure she was sleeping soundly. 

Just to be safe she grabbed a knife from the kitchen and held it by her side as she opened the door. She almost dropped it in shock when she realised who it was. It was Brody. Standing there casually and smiling at her as if nothing was wrong.

Carrie just stared. Frozen in shock. It’s not real she told herself. It’s just a dream. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.

“Carrie, are you ok? You look like you have seen a ghost!” The man who looked like Brody grinned. Obviously pleased with the joke.

“No. This isn’t happening!” Carrie poked her arm with the knife. Ow. Poked it again harder. Ow!

“Hey, stop that!” Quick as a flash the Brody lookalike grabbed the knife away, dropped it on the ground and kicked it out of reach. He put his hand out to touch her. His hand was warm and it felt very real. Carrie jumped back. “No!”

“Carrie!” Brody gripped her arm and guided her to the chair on the porch. “Breathe. It’s me. This is real. I’m here.”

Carrie took a deep breath. The world spun around before her eyes. She felt herself falling. She woke up to find herself face to face with another man. His fingers were touching both her neck and her wrist to check her pulse. He jumped back when her eyes opened. “Phew, you are alive! I thought for a second we had lost you!”

Carrie sat up straight. The man was very odd looking with ice blue eyes and slightly pointed ears. “Who the hell are you? What is this? What’s going on?”

“My name is Axle. I’m a fairy. You fainted, but don’t worry that happens a lot. All of us fairies are trained for these situations.”

“A fairy?” Carrie rubbed her head.

“Your wish. Remember? You wanted him back. Well, ‘ta-da’, here he is. Your wish is my command!” The fairy looked extremely pleased with himself.

“Brody? But wait… ” Carrie frowned. Confused thoughts dashed through her brain. Brody? Really? Is that who she wanted? Was it him she was thinking about when she made the wish? No. No. That wasn’t right. Was it? She looked Brody up and down. No, she decided, definitely not.

The fairy wasn’t smiling anymore. “Uh, I imagined you would be happier than this. My training manual said everyone is always happy. This is my first assignment actually. I’m new to this.”

“Carrie, I know it’s a shock but I’m so happy to see you. I’m surprised but very pleased you made that wish.” Brody took a step towards her and put his arms out.

Carrie stepped back, avoiding the hug. “No. This is wrong. I didn’t mean Brody.”

Brody and the fairy spoke at once. Same word. Same shocked expression. “What?”

“I meant Quinn. Peter Quinn.”

Brody scowled. “Quinn? The psycho? The fucking psycho who stabbed my hand?” He raised his palm, showing the scar. “That guy! Carrie, what the fuck?!” He backed off down the porch steps and began pacing in the garden.

The fairy put his hand to his mouth in horror. “Oh no. I’m going to get fired! I’ve messed it all up!”

He clicked his fingers and a large book appeared in his hands. “I did wonder why none of the other fairies wanted this job. This is your case file. I tried so hard to make sense of it all. I read it again and again. Wishes are meant to come true at midnight you know. I spent an extra four hours trying to understand it. But I still couldn’t decide who you meant when you made the wish so I just went with my gut feeling and picked Brody. I mean, you had so many chances to tell Quinn how you felt. So many chances to actually have things end differently with him for real. I figured you just didn’t care about him that way.”

Carrie closed her eyes and tried desperately to not break down in tears. “No, that’s not true. I did care about him but I did everything wrong. I know that now and I would give anything to have a second chance. Can you reverse the wish and bring Quinn back instead?”

“Woah, wait a minute!” Brody charged back up the porch steps. “That’s not how it works. It’s done. The wish was granted. You got me. You have me. I want to be here. I want my second chance.”

Carrie turned back to the fairy. “Please. Is there anything you can do?” 

The fairy bit his lip and shifted awkwardly on his feet. “I suppose I could ask my supervisor. Wait here.” He clicked his heels and vanished in a flash of light.

Brody put his hand out. “Please Carrie. Give me a second chance. I’ll be a better man.”

Carrie shook her head. “Sorry but it’s a no. It’s not you. It never was.”

There was another flash of light and two figures appeared on the lawn. 

“Miss Mathison. My name is Liesl. I’m the fairy in charge. I’m so sorry about this.”

“It’s ok. I don’t blame Axle. I understand my thoughts are confusing. But can you fix it. Please? I want Quinn back.”

The fairy smiled sympathetically. “I have reviewed your file. I have to tell you that over the past few years there has been intense interest in your story in Fairyland and your life has been the subject of many heated discussions. Opinions are very divided though. There are a small group of fairies, like Axle here, who still believe you belong with Brody but there are many more fairies who believe you belong with Quinn. However even among this group there are disagreements about when you fell in love with him and doubts about whether you loved him as deeply as he loved you. It would really help this situation if you were able to explain things for me?”

Carrie ran her hand through her hair. ‘As deeply as he loved you.’ She repeated the words over and over in her head. Quinn loved her and she loved him. She did. She loved him. So why was it so difficult to say those words out loud? 

“Miss Mathison, Carrie, just tell me how you feel.” The fairy put a comforting hand on Carrie’s arm.

Carrie felt a small spark of electricity and all of a sudden her thoughts became clearer and the words spilled out. “I was in love with Quinn. I still am. I just wasn’t able to ever say it out loud and I regret that every day.”

“Good, that’s good. Thank you.” The fairy made a note in the book with a feather pen. “But tell me, when did you first realise those feelings? Was it when you saw him at your father’s funeral or was it before that in Islamabad? Or was it later than that, in Berlin?”

“Uh, well, it’s hard to explain. I’m not sure. It was so gradual... but I guess, maybe, it was the moment I saw him at my father’s funeral. ”

“Hah, I knew it!” The female fairy punched the air in glee before composing herself. “Sorry about that, but that was the answer I had my money on.” She smiled and made another note on the page. 

“So can you change the wish?”

“This is a very unusual situation. This sort of thing has never happened before. But I think in these circumstances I will make an exception for you and allow you one more wish. Just make sure you think clearly this time.” The fairy clicked her fingers and held out a cupcake with a candle on top. 

“No wait. Carrie please. Pick me.” Brody got down on his knees and grabbed her hand. “Please. Don’t send me back there!”

Carrie ignored him and put an image of Quinn in her mind. She pictured the moment in the street after the funeral. His hair, his smile, the crinkle of his blue eyes, the touch of his hand, his lips. She concentrated hard and blew out the candle. 

In a flash of light Quinn appeared on the lawn.

“Quinn!” Carrie went to run towards him but realised Brody was still kneeling on the ground in front of her and holding tightly to her arm.

“What’s happening? What the hell am I doing here?” Quinn looked confused. “Carrie? Brody?”

Brody stood up and took a few steps towards Quinn. “Carrie made a wish. She wished that one of us was back here with her. Living and breathing and not dead. But it seems she couldn’t actually make up her mind about which one of us she wanted and so we both got magicked here.” He paused and then turned to face Carrie. “So what do you want us to do now Carrie? Do you want us to fetch you some mystical object to prove our worth to you? Do you want us to have a duel? A fight to the death? Is that what you want?” He curled his hands into fists and turned back to Quinn. “Well I can do that. I’ve been wanting to smack your face in ever since you skewered my hand with that knife.”

Quinn stayed motionless and regarded Brody with a cool stare. “I’d like to see you try!” 

“Don’t be stupid Brody! He will knock you out in one second.” Carrie held his arm to hold him back. “No fights, no quests. Nothing. This has all been a mistake. It’s just you Quinn. I choose you. It has always been you.” 

Quinn shook his head. “You summoned me here for this? For what? To be part of another one of your games? No. I don’t want to be here. Stay with Brody. Send me back.”

“Quinn, you don’t mean that!”

“Yes, he does. Send him away guys. Bye bye Quinn. You know she wants me really. She was obsessed with me. That doesn’t go away. You were never anything but my replacement. A poor one at that. Harvard educated? I doubt it. You look like a street rat to me.” Brody uncurled his hands and waved dismissively. 

Quinn raised his eyebrows. “Come closer and say that.” 

Carrie held tighter to Brody’s arm to stop him moving. “Guys stop it. Quinn please. Believe me, I really want this. I want to tell you that I…. I…”

“No. Let me go Carrie. Let me rest in peace. I saved the president. Did you hear that Brody? I saved the president. I didn’t try to blow her up. What did you ever achieve you fucking idiot waste of space?”

Brody broke free from Carrie and made a lunge at Quinn. “Asshole I’ll kick your ass!”

“Enough!” The female fairy raised her hand and Brody froze in place before falling to the ground. “Let Carrie speak! Quinn listen to what Carrie is trying to say to you.”

“Please Quinn. Stay here with me. I need you.” Carrie’s voice broke.

Quinn looked conflicted. 

“I know you think you belong in the darkness but you don’t. You belong here with me. We could take this second chance and build a new life together. Just give me a chance to prove to you how much I.. I.. care about you.”

“Okay…” Quinn looked hesitant. Cautious. “Maybe I could stay…. maybe…” 

“Stop stop stop. This won’t do.” The female fairy stomped her foot. “This is not how it is meant to go! These reunions are meant to be about happiness, pure unadulterated happiness, with tears of joy and true love’s kiss. There are no maybes. I need to tell you something. The kiss, which let me tell you always usually happens without prompting, is the key. You have to have true love’s kiss before sunrise or the wish is broken.”

“True love’s kiss?” Quinn looked skeptical.

“Yes. It’s a kiss which needs no words. It is just a magical moment where both people know that they are the one for each other. And it has to be mutual, it has to be true love for each person, or the magic won’t work and you will go back to where we summoned you from.”

“You don’t have long.” The male fairy pointed at the sky. “It’s almost sunrise.”

“A kiss? No words? Well, in that case..” A new invigorated look on his face, Quinn began to stride towards Carrie.

“Oh no you don’t!” In a sudden flash of speed Brody charged past Carrie and rugby tackled Quinn to the floor.

“Quinn, watch out!” Carrie suddenly noticed the gleam of light in Brody’s hand. “He has a knife!”

In one deft move, Quinn flipped Brody onto his back, kicked the knife from his grip, and then plunged it into his hand, the non scarred one, pinning him to the grass.

“Ow! Carrie help! Ow!” Brody writhed in pain but no-one else on the lawn was paying attention.

Quinn kept moving and covered the distance between him and Carrie in a couple of strides. He took her face in his hands and they gazed into each other’s eyes. In that moment the garden sprinklers turned on, drenching the pair in the spray. Neither of them noticed. They only had eyes for each other. Their lips met in a passionate kiss, and they were so wrapped up in each other that they didn’t notice the flash of light radiating from them as the sun peeked over the horizon for sunrise. 

“True love’s kiss!” sighed the female fairy, wiping away a tear. “At last! I knew it! Now one last thing…” She clicked her fingers once and in a small poof of light Brody morphed into a small rat and scurried away into the bushes. “Much better,” she smiled. “”Now, let’s leave them to it.” She clicked her fingers again and both fairies disappeared from the garden. Carrie and Quinn didn’t even notice. They stayed kissing for quite a few minutes more before walking hand in hand into the house. They lived happy ever after. The end.


End file.
